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It is amazing how the connectivity systems within a mobile network (Backhaul/Transport) have evolved over the last two decades – from 2G voice only services to our modern LTE world where even voice could be served through a packet switched network. Such evolution is always haphazard, driven by real-time traffic demands and ends up making the network messier and messier over time.

Sometimes thoughts on history can give us an “Aha!” moment.. not just new things! At-least for me, reminiscing on a forgotten memory and getting back the thought in all its glory gave me the same high!

Yesterday, during my self-learning hour, I was perplexed by a problem…

In Lewis Caroll’s masterpiece, Alice in Wonderland, there is a character called Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat is a grinning cat who could disappear (become invisible) and reappear at will. Sometimes, the cat would disappear but would leave its “grin” behind.

I was recently in a Panel Discussion where we were debating what would be a future telco and what would be considered a good customer experience in those scenarios. I ended up speaking about Cheshire Cat…

I was reading the “Idea Watch” article on the latest issue of HBR, an article on Social Media based Marketing and the misconceptions about “Influencers”. The article goes on to describe Marketing in a B2C scenario and describes at a high level the difference between correlation and causation – and how correlated behaviour may not have changed an apriori tendency and hence not considered to be an “Influencer”.

This led me to wonder about influencers in other contexts, including that about a scandal that has rocked my favourite cricket team…

The biggest news since yesterday is the acquisition of Acme Packet by Oracle Corporation. This is Oracle’s first acquisition in 2013 and this has happened in the Communications and Media domain!

If one looks at what Oracle had been busy with last year, one notices that they have acquired a number of companies in Cloud and Social Media space. From that to a hardcore telecom component came as quite a surprise!

Going over my curated feeds to check out on what opinions prevail about communication services, I came up on two seemingly unconnected news items. For me, it appeared like both the news items were about one common reality – your operator who has runs your mobile network is becoming less and less your mobile service provider!

Unless the operators take some drastic measures, they are likely to cease being addressed by the term “Service Providers” and would be referred to as “Carriers” only, in the future.

Wishing all my friends and followers a very Happy and Prosperous 2013!

After the short break, I thought I will start with a post about how partying on New Year’s Eve has changed for me over the years. There is a very significant trend that I see, especially in the way people greet others wishing them luck in the New Year.